Voices Carry

I've read a couple of blogs lately in the disability community and others about different things that make people attractive to each other. Terrible Palsy wrote a lovely post about what made her husband attractive to her (despite being shorter and a bit older), and it made me think about my relationships as well.

One major thing that drew me most to my husband was his voice. Deep, melodious, and expressive...he could read a column of the most boring crap from The Wall Street Journal and even after 14 years, it will still make my knees weak. He could make a fortune recording books on tape.

What is it about certain sounds that affect us so?

Little Guy can hear a vacuum or car alarms with no problems, but fire alarms completely incapacitate him. When he was in elementary school, the building had an issue and the alarm went off every 15 minutes or so for several hours. He curled up in a ball on the floor and completely shut down.

His para-educator went to the principal and said, "Either you call his mom to come get him, or I am putting him in my car and driving him home myself. This is torturing him." He has much greater control nowadays (mostly because they warn him before fire drills), but he still has a lot of anxiety whenever he sees a fire alarm on a wall anywhere, especially in the hair salon.

I've been a huge fan of Billy Joel for years. I think he's brilliant, or at least he was before he started getting drunk all the time and driving into buildings. And what kind of stupid sh*t would cheat on a Goddess like Christie Brinkley? Like he's going to get something better? He's got the Ethan Hawke disorder. Or maybe Ethan has the Billy Joel disorder. What kind of short, scrawny, pretentious and bad-toofed dood could cheat on Uma Thurman, for pete's sakes?

Whatever, I digress.

Anyway, we have a stack of CD's we listen to whenever we go on long car trips. One of them is "the best of" Billy Joel. Except for one song.

I simply CANNOT listen to "Under Pressure" in the car. Nothing will transport me into the throes of a panic attack quicker than that song. I guess it's part of his musical brilliance, but you know that anything that makes your toes, sphinck and chest clench in a spasm simultaneously can't be a good thing.

I'd rather throw open the car door and hurl myself onto the interstate than listen to that song.

The voices I find incredibly pleasing?

Khandi Alexander.

She plays the medical examiner on CSI Miami. I can forgive the stupid dialogue when she pontificates to the faux corpses----"Who did this to you, Sugar?"---just to listen to her talk. If she ever gets tired of the Hollywood rat race and decides to just do voiceover, I think I'd listen to her even if she dubbed Power Rangers 12, The Zord Unleashed XXXX, or even the freaking Farm Report.






Patrick Stewart.

I adore Captain Picard. 'Nuff Said.

Rachel Weisz.

Oh Baby. I could become a lesbian over that voice. I'm serious. LOL



Paul Winfield.

Unfortunately, the Emmy Award winning actor and narrator of City Confidential passed away in 2004. Listening to him was like drinking a fine aged whiskey without the hangover.

Roger Whittaker.

Now don't laugh. Many of you prolly have no idea who this is.

Back when I was a kid, my mom was the Muzak queen. No disco or heavy metal allowed in our house. Instead, we had to listen to the gentle instrumental sounds of KLIR, FM 101. Except on the days when they played Anne Murray, Carpenters and Roger Whittaker marathons.

When I became an adult, I bought his Christmas Carol CD and listen to it every year.

So what voices make your teeth grind or send you into raptures?